Do Hospitals and Other Provider Organizations Use Public Reports?
There is some evidence that provider organizations are more responsive to performance data than consumers, purchasers, or individual physicians. A quasi-experimental design was used to examine the impact of an obstetrics consumer report on hospital behavior in Missouri.14 Half of the hospitals that did not have an infant car seat program, formal transfer arrangements, or breastfeeding nurse educators prior to publication of the report instituted or planned these services after the report was published. Hospitals in competitive markets were twice as likely to implement changes than those with monopolies. Several clinical outcome indicators improved after publication, including patient satisfaction and cesarean delivery rates. Studies conducted in organizations exposed to publication of data about their performance have produced mixed assessments of the use of the information. Some organizations, particularly those whose performance is shown in a positive light by the reports, use the in
